1 dead, 1 injured in 3-car DeKalb County crash

News-Sentinel staff reports

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - 4:53 pm

An Ohio woman died and a DeKalb County man was injured Wednesday morning in a three-vehicle crash north of Waterloo.

Police believe 48-year-old Saralee A. Handy, of Edon, Ohio, was driving her Ford Focus northeast on Indiana 427, just east of County Road 39, at about 7:42 a.m. when her car veered sharply to the left into southwest-bound traffic, according to a statement issued by the DeKalb County Sheriff's Department.

A 60-year-old Hamilton man, who was traveling southwest in a Ford Ranger pickup, told police he saw the car enter his lane and tried to avoid hitting it by going into a roadside ditch. The two vehicles collided, with the pickup coming to rest on the right side of the road, the statement said.

Handy's car, meanwhile, spun counter-clockwise and came to rest in the southwest-bound lane, where a Chevrolet Blazer with a tow bar struck her car in the rear, the statement said.

Handy sustained fatal internal injuries. The 60-year-old Hamilton man was hospitalized with a compound fracture in his right lower leg or ankle, while the third driver, a 44-year-old Angola man, was unhurt, the statement said.